For the Love of Film

For the Love of Film: The Film Preservation Blogathon III,
May 13-18, 2012.

If you value preservation...

if the art of film is important to you...

if you've ever thrilled to an Alfred Hitchcock movie...

then please follow this link to make a donation to the National Film Preservation Foundation to support the effort to make the recently discovered silent film The White Shadow (1924) accessible to a wide audience via the internet.

A group of over 100 bloggers are trying to raise $15,000 and it's going to take many generous small (and large!) donations to get there.  With great appreciation for your generosity,
THANK YOU!

We're Going a Bit Off-Topic on Tour America's History Today...

Preservation is very important to me.  And that includes film preservation…

Today I’m taking a brief break from our tour of Colorado’s Save America’s Treasures site to promote an important preservation project that I’m involved with over at my other blog, 21 Essays. 

From May 13 through May 18, 21 Essays is participating in a film preservation blogathon called For the Love of Film: The Film Preservation Blogathon, hosted by three topnotch film sites: Ferdy on Films, The Self-Styled Siren, and This Island Rod. As the need to preserve our culture is central to Tour America’s Treasures, I think it’s relevant to share about our blogathon here.

This year, our goal is to raise $15,000 in six days to make The White Shadow (1924) accessible to modern audiences. Here’s the story behind The White Shadow—and the reason why this project is so exciting to film enthusiasts like me!

A large cache of silent films was discovered in New Zealand in 1989. Because the films were on highly unstable nitrate film and many were in fragmentary condition, it took years of work to move ahead with efforts to both identify and conserve the movies. The National Film Preservation Foundation and the New Zealand Film Archives, with funding support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, led the preservation effort. A number of the movies turned out to be films that were widely regarded as “lost.” And among these “lost” films were the first three reels of The White Shadow.

The White Shadow has gained attention not because of its largely-forgotten star (Betty Compson) or director (Graham Cutts) but for the man who was its assistant director, writer, editor, and production designer—film legend Alfred Hitchcock, just 24 years old at the time and still a year away from landing his first full directing job.

Preserving the legacy of Alfred Hitchcock—that’s what this blogathon is about. All donations will go direct to the National Film Preservation Foundation to make The White Shadow accessible on the internet: To record a new score by composer Michael Mortilla and to mount the film on the National Film Preservation Foundation website where it can be viewed for free by all.

The image above is of Anny Ondra in Hitchcock's early sound film Blackmail (1929). That’s  the film that I’ll  be writing about all this week on 21 Essays in an effort to drum up support for this film preservation effort.

Please consider supporting this worthy cause.  Just click on the link at the top of this page to make a contribution in support of this great project.

Lee Price
Editor, Tour America's History

Tour America's History Itinerary

Wednesday’s destination:  Old First National Bank of Telluride

© 2012 Lee Price

Museo de las Americas

View Museo de las Americas in a larger map

Visit our Tour Destination: Colorado page to see the entire tour of the state’s Save America’s Treasures sites.

A school group visits Museo de las Americas.
Photo courtesy Museo de las Americas.

Museo de las Americas

861 Santa Fe Drive

Denver, CO

Website:  Museo de las Americas

The Treasure:  The collections at Museo de las Americas focus on the art, history, and culture of Latinos in the Americas from ancient times to the present.

Accessibility:  Museo de las Americas is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 to 5 and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5.

Background:  Colorado has a rich Latino culture and history. The very first Europeans to enter Colorado were Spanish conquistadors who included southern Colorado within a large Spanish province they called Santa Fe de Nuevo México. In the first half of the 19th century, Mexican influences dominated the emerging Colorado culture. City and town names throughout southern Colorado stand witness to their Spanish roots:  Cortez, Durango, Ignacio, Antonito, La Junta, Salida, Las Animas, and many others.

The settling of Denver and the northern towns by travelers from the east took place later, largely spurred by the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush of 1858. Initially, there was relatively little Latino influence in the fast-growing city of Denver. Even in the 1930s, census results showed a population that was only 2% Hispanic. But the population changed rapidly as the 20th century unfolded. Today, Denver is approximately one third Hispanic, the home of a vibrant Latino culture that is an inseparable part of the city’s identity.

Special exhibitions at Museo de las
Americas.  Photo courtesy Museo
de las Americas.

The Museo de las Americas was founded in 1991 to preserve, present, and promote the diversity of Latino Americano art and culture from ancient times to the present. It’s located in the heart of the Santa Fe Art District, centering a lively community with more than 40 art galleries as well as shops and restaurants.

The collections of the Museo de las Americas encompass over 4,000 objects, including pre-Columbian objects, beautiful Spanish Colonial art from the 17th and 18th centuries, and contemporary art. The museum maintains a busy schedule of special exhibits, events, and educational programs. Be sure to check their program calendar of upcoming events in advance of your visit to Denver.

Other Recommended Sites:  To get the big picture, explore the local neighborhood. On Denver’s Art District on Santa Fe website, there’s an easy-to-use event calendar with up-to-date information on activities at all the neighboring galleries, shops, and restaurants. Their First and Third Friday art walks are particularly popular.

Crafts at Museo de las Americas.
Photo courtesy Museo de las Americas.

Tour America's History Itinerary

Tuesday’s destination:  Old First National Bank of Telluride

© 2012 Lee Price

Montrose City Hall and Elks Lodge

View Montrose City Hall in a larger map

Visit our Tour Destination: Colorado page to see the entire tour of the state’s Save America’s Treasures sites.

The Elks Lodge building in 2008 following restoration work.
Photo courtesy City of Montrose.

Montrose City Hall and Elks Lodge

433 South 1st Street

Montrose, CO

Website:  City of Montrose

The Treasure:  Montrose City Hall and (across the street) the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge are handsome mixed-style buildings representative of the eclectic architecture of the area in the early years of the 20th century.

Accessibility:  Both buildings, Montrose City Hall and the Elks Lodge, are actively used by the City of Montrose for city business.

Background:  The City of Montrose is located on the high desert lands of the Uncompahgre Valley. For centuries, the Ute Indians regularly moved through this area, enjoying its good hunting grounds and artesian springs. In those days, the weather was not appropriate for the establishment of long-term farming settlements because the climate was semi-arid, averaging only nine inches of rain annually. The summers were hot, the winters were cold, and all seasons were dry.

Nevertheless, a town grew up here in the 1880s, with growth spurred by its status as a stop for the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, a narrow gauge train line running between Denver and Salt Lake City, Utah. Montrose emerged as a transportation hub serving the local mining communities. One of the town’s founders, Joseph Selig, suggested the name Montrose for the town, based on the character of the Marquis of Montrose in Sir Walter Scott’s popular novel The Legend of Montrose.

Gunnison Tunnel arch for the 1909 dedication ceremonies.
Source: Wikimedia Commons

The opening of the Gunnison Tunnel in 1909 changed the character of Montrose. A major engineering project of the Bureau of Reclamation, the 5.8-mile Gunnison Tunnel was the longest irrigation tunnel in the world at the time of its opening. President William Howard Taft attended the opening dedication ceremonies.  Diverted from the Gunnison River, the irrigation water from the Gunnison Tunnel enabled Montrose to take advantage of the fertile valley soil and position the town as a regional agricultural center.

Architect J.H. Antrobus was selected to design both the City Hall building and the Elks Lodge in 1926. Located practically across the street from each other, the two buildings share many similarities. Like many architects of the time and the region, Antrobus picked and chose from a smorgasbord of architectural styles. The dominant style of both buildings is Art Deco, but there are also prominent features representative of Mission Revival, Pueblo Deco, and Late Gothic Revival.

Notes from the Editor:  It takes a lot of work to restore an aging historic building! It’s not just a matter of returning the large public spaces to their original handsome appearance, but can also require major upgrades to make spaces handicapped-accessible and to deal with requirements for hazardous material abatement (in the case of the Elks Lodge, issues of asbestos and lead-based paint needed to be addressed). To restore Montrose City Hall and the Elks Lodge, important tasks included roof repair; plumbing upgrades; foundation stabilization; door and stairway restoration; structural stabilization; fire escape upgrade; window rehabilitation; historic plaster repair; historic wood floor refinishing; addition of fire sprinkler systems; mechanical upgrades; electrical upgrades; masonry restoration; and millwork.

Historic photo of the Elks Lodge, circa 1928.
Photo courtesy City of Montrose.

The lobby at Montrose City Hall during renovation in 2007.
Photo courtesy City of Montrose.

The restored lobby at Montrose City Hall in 2008.
Photo courtesy City of Montrose.

Other Recommended Sites:  The City of Montrose is a gateway to the Black Canyon of Gunnison National Park. The park’s south rim entrance is 15 miles east of Montrose. The scenic park is famous for its awesome sheer cliff faces carved out by the Gunnison River over the past 15 million years.

In addition to the National Park, Montrose boasts three museums that explore different facets of Colorado history. The Montrose County Historical Museum focuses on the settling and pioneering of the region. The Museum of the Mountain West displays 500,000 artifacts in old west historic buildings that have been reconstructed on the site. Located three miles south of downtown Montrose, the Ute Indian Museum offers an introduction to the history of American Indians in Colorado and exhibits an impressive collection of Ute Indian artifacts. 

The renovated city council chambers in Montrose City Hall.
Photo courtesy City of Montrose.

Tour America's History Itinerary

Friday’s destination:  Museo de las Americas

© 2012 Lee Price

Mayflower Gold Mill

View Mayflower Mill in a larger map

Visit our Tour Destination: Colorado page to see the entire tour of the state’s Save America’s Treasures sites.

Period photograph of the Mayflower Mill in Silverton, Colorado.
Photo courtesy of the San Juan County Historical Society.

Mayflower Gold Mill

San Juan County Historical Society

Court House Square

Silverton, CO

Website:  San Juan County Historical Society

The Treasure:  The Mayflower Gold Mill (also known as the Shenandoah-Dives Mill) is an intact precious metals mill that preserves the technology of the once-flourishing mining communities of Colorado.

Accessibility:  Tours of the Mayflower Mill are offered through the San Juan County Historical Society. Their Heritage Pass covers admission to the San Juan County Historical Society Museum, the Old Hundred Gold Mine Tour, and the Mayflower Gold Mill Tour.

Background:  Starting in 1858, the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush lured would-be prospectors to Colorado in quest of the precious metals rumored to underscore the state’s formidable mountain ranges. Initial placer mining quickly exhausted the metals that were there for the taking in the alluvial deposits of modern and ancient stream beds. To really take advantage of the metals locked within the mountainous terrain, new industrial mills were needed to extract the precious metals from high-grade ores unearthed through the dangerous work of underground lode mining.

Silverton is a small town nestled in a deep valley surrounded by the magnificent San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado. In the first enthusiasm of the Gold Rush, this area largely escaped attention, partly because it was only officially opened to pioneers in the early 1870s. Early prospectors found a harsh and rugged environment, but the lure of precious metals was sufficient to eventually attract a permanent community, prepared to weather the severe winters and dangerous mining conditions.

In the mid-1920s, successful mine manager Charles A. Chase decided that a new state-of-the-art mill in Silverton would still have potential to capitalize on the plentiful metals in the surrounding mountains. As the American economy collapsed into depression in 1929, Chase’s Mayflower Mill opened  for business, complete with modern steam shovels, dump trucks, a 10,000-foot aerial tram, and the latest in metal extraction technology.

For the following 61 years, Silverton benefitted from the hard-working mill. It produced nearly 2 million ounces of gold, 30 million ounces of silver, and 1 million tons (not ounces—tons!) of combined base metals such as copper, lead, and zinc. The mill used a flotation process to separate the minerals. The original mill equipment is still there in the Mayflower Mill, which has been closed for business for more than twenty years but has now comfortably moved into a new function—educating visitors about Colorado mining in the old days.

Children tour the Mayflower Mill.
Photo courtesy of the San Juan County Historical Society.

Notes from the Editor:  I’ll always link Colorado mining with the story of my own great-grandfather heading west to mine for gold in Central City, a short distance west of Denver. Like thousands of other would-be prospectors, he never hit it rich and eventually returned east discouraged (and, in retrospect, it’s a good thing his venture failed or I wouldn’t be here today!). Central City is a long distance from Silverton but I still deeply appreciate that places like Silverton keep their mining history alive. The Pike’s Peak Gold Rush opened a remarkable chapter in American history, and Colorado’s awesome mountain ranges provide the most scenic backdrops imaginable for explorations into our country’s mining history.

Other Recommended Sites:  The railroads were essential to the success of any mining enterprise. At Silverton, you can experience a ride on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad—a coal-fired, steam-powered scenic rumble through the San Juan Mountains. 

Photocrom postcard of Silverton, Colorado, circa 1897-1924.
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Tour America's History Itinerary

Monday’s destination:  Montrose City Hall

© 2012 Lee Price

Clyfford Still Museum

View Clyfford Still Museum in a larger map

Visit our Tour Destination: Colorado page to see the entire tour of the state’s Save America’s Treasures sites.

Clyfford Still, 1949-No. 1 (PH-385), 1949.  Oil on canvas,
105.5 x 81 in.  Photo: Ben Blackwell  © Clyfford Still Estate

Clyfford Still Museum

1250 Bannock Street

Denver, CO

Website:  Clyfford Still Museum

The Treasure:  The art of American abstract expressionist Clyfford Still.

Accessibility:  Thanks to the opening of the Clyfford Still Museum in November 2011, the work of Clyfford Still is now much more accessible than ever before. The museum’s opening exhibition showcased more than 100 works by Still displayed chronologically in nine galleries.

Clyfford Still, 1942-No. 2 (PH-85), 1942.
Oil on canvas, 41.5 x 38.1 in.
Photo: Jay Baker  © Clyfford Still Estate

Background:  Clyfford Still (1904-1980) saw life in primal—even volcanic—terms. He was perpetually frustrated by the weakness of all art, past and present, in depicting, challenging, and confronting the universal forces that drive the world. He wanted an art capable of capturing immensity, fire, and defiance—and realized early in his career that he would have to invent his own forms to capture his vision.

“These are not paintings in the usual sense,” Still wrote. “They are life and death merging in fearful union. As for me, they kindle a fire; through them I breathe again, hold a golden cord, find my own revelation.”

In the early 1940s, Still forced himself to go beyond the surrealist conventions popular in modern art circles to create huge works of abstract expressionism. Still blazed a path that opened new areas of exploration for great American artists such as Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, and Jackson Pollock.

But Still’s art remained fascinatingly different and fiercely personal. He led in developing the Color Field style, working with abstract fields of color on monumental canvases, applying his paints with palette knives to create raw textures that evoke mysterious—even transcendent—suggestions of primal depths.  As Still once said, “You can turn the lights out. The paintings will carry their own fire.”

Clyfford Still, 1954-No. 2 (PH-1123), 1954.  Oil on canvas, 114 x 155 in.
Photo: Ben Blackwell  © Clyfford Still Estate

Clyfford Still, PH-950, 1950.  Oil on canvas, 92 x 70 in.
Photo: Ben Blackwell  © Clyfford Still Estate

Clyfford Still, PH-215, 1935.  Oil on canvas,
32.1 x 26 in.  Photo: Jay Baker.
© Clyfford Still Estate

Notes from the Editor:  With this award, Save America’s Treasures bravely acknowledged the importance of 20th century non-representational modern art. Even now, more than fifty years after Still began creating his mature works, the art world is just catching up with his artistic achievements.

But this somewhat delayed recognition of Still’s work is largely due to his own eccentricities, especially in the way he chose to slowly and strategically parcel out his legacy to the world. Two years before his death, he wrote a one-page document that would define the fate of approximately 94% of his known artwork. He wrote:

“I give and bequeath all the remaining works of art executed by me in my collection to an American city that will agree to build or assign and maintain permanent quarters exclusively for these works of art and assure their physical survival with the explicit requirement that none of these works of art will be sold, given, or exchanged but are to be retained in the place described above exclusively assigned to them in perpetuity for exhibition and study.”

Clyfford Still, Field Rocks (PH-45), 1925. Oil on canvas,
21 x 28.1 in.  Photo: Jay Baker.   © Clyfford Still Estate

Twenty years later, Denver made the bid to be that American city. After negotiations with the family, a deal was struck. While Still was usually associated with the New York scene, there’s a nice symmetry to the idea of his works returning to a city of the western prairie. Clyfford Still grew up in Spokane, Washington, and the vast prairie landscapes of his youth permanently informed his vision.

Here’s a brief (just two-and-a-half minute) yet informative video introduction to the Clyfford Still Museum.

Other Recommended Sites:  If your visit to the Clyfford Still Museum leaves you yearning for more art experiences, there’s an entrance to the Denver Art Museum less one block away (the North building’s main entrance, located on 13th Street). But don’t stop there. Other prestigious Denver art collections can be found at the Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. With the arrival of the Clyfford Still Museum, Denver has truly become an art mecca.

Clyfford Still, Self-Portrait (PH-382), 1940.  Oil on canvas, 41.5 x 38.1 in.
Photo: Peter Harholdt.   © Clyfford Still Estate

Tour America's History Itinerary

Thursday’s destination:  Mayflower Mill

© 2012 Lee Price

Crow Canyon Archaeological Center

View Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in a larger map

Visit our Tour Destination: Colorado page to see the entire tour of the state’s Save America’s Treasures sites.

McElmo black-on-white bowl from Shields Pueblo.
Photo courtesy of Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.

Crow Canyon Archaeological Center

23390 Road K

Cortez, CO

Website:  Crow Canyon Archaeological Center

The Treasure:  Artifacts from excavations led by Crow Canyon Archaeological Center at the Yellow Jacket and Shields pueblo sites shed light on the cultures of the ancestral Pueblo people who lived in this region of southwestern Colorado nearly a thousand years ago.

Accessibility:  The collections themselves are stored at the Anasazi Heritage Center, a curation center and museum operated by the Bureau of Land Management, and they are generally not accessible to the public unless on display in an exhibition. The actual Yellow Jacket and Shields archaeological sites are on private property and therefore inaccessible to the public. HOWEVER, the real treat here is the opportunity to participate in archaeological opportunities at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center that allow you to explore the current work of archaeologists in the Mesa Verde region, one of the densest concentrations of well-preserved archaeological sites in the world. Check their website for up-to-date information on their archaeology programs.

Three masonry structures at Shields Pueblo.
Photo courtesy of Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.

Background:  Both the Yellow Jacket and the Shields pueblo sites were home to large communities from approximately 1050 to 1300 A.D. The Shields site shows some evidence of settlement from as early as 775, and older artifacts have been uncovered at Yellow Jacket as well.

The oldest indications of human habitation in the Mesa Verde region are projectile points that date back to the Paleoindian period (circa 10,000 to 5,500 B.C.). There have been people—although often just small isolated communities—in this region ever since. Archaeologists classify the periods of settlement into a number of time periods:  Paleoindian, Archaic (5500-500 B.C.), Basketmaker (500B.C. – 750 A.D.), Pueblo (750-1300 A.D.), Post-Pueblo (extending to the time of European encounters), and Historic.

Mesa Verde black-on-white mug from Yellow Jacket Pueblo.
Photo courtesy of Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.

The Yellow Jacket and Shields sites were homes to settlements of the Pueblo (sometimes called Anasazi) people, who lived in these parts during a time of significant movement and community building throughout the area. In some communities, massive multi-room, multi-story structures called great houses were built. Other buildings called great kivas were roofed structures, usually round and sometimes built into the earth so they were partially underground. Buildings such as these could serve as community centers for large villages and their surrounding farmsteads. Today, the ruins of the villages, sometimes located in picturesque canyons, have come to define the popular image of ancestral Pueblo life.

Sometime near the end of the 1200s, the Pueblo people left these grand sites and migrated to new settlements in Arizona and New Mexico. Other Native American people had always lived in close proximity to the Pueblo Indians. The Utes, the Hopi, and the Navajo continued to live in the Mesa Verde region in Post-Pueblo and Historic times but not usually in the great Pueblo structures that remained largely abandoned.

Partial Mancos black-on-white olla from Shields Pueblo.
Photo courtesy of Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.

Mesa Verde black-on-white kiva jar lid from Yellow Jacket Pueblo.
Photo courtesy of Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.

Notes from the Editor:  I want to go on the “Archaeology Day Tour” offered by Crow Canyon Archaeological Center! It sounds like a superb way of learning about the famous Four Corners area. The Day Tour offers a hands-on introduction to Pueblo history, including visits to a current excavation site and the Center’s lab. There are other tempting programs offered, too, including multi-day opportunities for assisting with field work and artifact analysis.  Summer camps are available for introducing teens to the joys of archaeology.

As befits an institution focused on the study of ancestral Native American cultures, the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center actively engages with the Indians of the region. In 1995, they formed a Native American Advisory Group to advise on issues of research, education, outreach initiatives, and program development. Together they work to treat the land and its history with appropriate respect.

“Our ancestors built these dwellings here, and their spirits still live in these places. That's what makes them so significant. We want to encourage others to preserve these dwellings. We want future generations to come and observe, because our cultural and traditional ways bring the soul nourishment.”

                                                                     Ernest M. Vallo, Sr.

                                                                     Eagle Clan, Pueblo of Acoma

Other Recommended Sites:  The Mesa Verde region is a very popular tourist destination. You can explore the architectural ruins of the ancestral Pueblo people at Mesa Verde National Park, Hovenweep National Monument, and Lowry Pueblo. The Anasazi Heritage Center in nearby Dolores, Colorado is an archaeological museum that explores the prehistory and history of the area’s Native American cultures.

Above-ground kiva at Yellow Jacket Pueblo
showing hearth and floor features.
Photo courtesy of Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.

Tour America's History Itinerary

Monday’s destination:  Clyfford Still Museum

© 2012 Lee Price

Hutchinson Homestead Ranch

View Hutchinson Homestead Ranch in a larger map

Visit our Tour Destination: Colorado page to see the entire tour of the state’s Save America’s Treasures sites.

The original ranch house, known as the Main House, at
Hutchinson Homestead Ranch.
Photo courtesy Hutchinson Homestead Ranch.

Hutchinson Homestead Ranch and Learning Center

Highway 50

Chaffee County, CO

Website:  Salida-Area Parks, Open-Space and Trails

Friends of the Hutchinson Homestead

The Treasure:  The Hutchinson Homestead Ranch will preserve a representative high-altitude ranching operation depicting Colorado frontier life of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Accessibility:  The site is available to tour by appointment only (call 719-539-9656 or e-mail grether at amigo.net) while restoration work at the site continues. Along with the historic preservation activity, a visitor center is under construction.

Background:  (Katy Grether, Hutchinson Homestead Project Leader, has supplied such a fine summary of the site that I’ve decided to reproduce it here verbatim. Thank you, Katy!)

Outbuildings at the Hutchinson Homestead Ranch.
Photo courtesy Hutchinson Homestead Ranch.

The Hutchinson Homestead typifies the history of ranching in the high valleys of Colorado. It tells the whole story—from the 1860’s to the present—on one ranch, in a very accessible location on U.S. Highway 50 within the five miles that separate Poncha Springs from Salida. Luckily for us living 140 years later, the Hutchinson family built a homestead to last, and one with a sense of architectural charm that made it a welcoming place for the nomadic Utes, pioneers, and cowhands, and earned it a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

Perhaps the earliest frame house built of milled lumber in the Upper Arkansas River Valley, the Hutchinson Homestead stands on the north side of Highway 50, surrounded by its corrals and outbuildings. The Hutchinson Homestead was one of the first ranches in what was then wide open, unfenced frontier. The towns of Poncha Springs and Salida did not exist when Dr. Hutchinson’s great grandparents settled here. The welcoming old house exhibits an unusually refined architectural style for the period, rising two stories and graced with Carpenter Gothic bargeboard on the front gable.

The Hutchinson Homestead is still a place that draws the interest and curiosity of the passerby. Locals and heritage tourists will have the chance to step back into ranching history at this premier attraction on the Collegiate Peaks Scenic and Historic Byway. The transformation of the Homestead into a ranching museum and learning center is acknowledged by many in our community to be the perfect culmination of a century of being at the heart and hub of a great Arkansas Valley Centennial Ranch. Fourth generation rancher, Dr. Wendell Hutchinson, now 86 years old, has donated 2.25 acres containing the Homestead and all of the historic outbuildings to the neighboring Town of Poncha Springs so the site can be enjoyed by the public for generations to come.

View from a corral.
Photo courtesy Hutchinson Homestead Ranch.

Preservation History:  Before restoration began in 2005, the 1870’s Homestead and outbuildings, none of which had foundations, were in such a state of weakness that they were nominated to the Colorado List of Endangered Places in 2003. Now, after two phases of restoration funded primarily by state preservation funds, the Main Homestead House has a new foundation and is completely restored on the exterior. All ten outbuildings are stabilized and completely rehabilitated.

Ongoing restoration work at the Main House.
Photo courtesy Hutchinson Homestead Ranch.

The third and final phase of preservation work is in progress, thanks to generous grants from the Colorado History State Historical Fund and the Save America’s Treasures program. The site is coming to life and, as people enter the ranch yard, they will experience what frontier life was like a century ago. The interior of the Homestead is being restored with period wallpaper and linoleum. Lilacs, apple and willow trees that have been on the ranch since the late 1800’s are being pruned and grafts taken, a myriad of fences and corrals are being rehabilitated, and visitor pathways are being installed to create a meaningful experience for heritage tourists.

Other Recommended Sites:  The highways of Chaffee County have been designated as the Collegiate Peaks Scenic and Historic Byway (a Colorado byway). The website Collegiate Peaks Scenic Byway provides a helpful guide to the historic, natural, and scenic sites of the county. The county is known for the highest concentration of 14,000-foot peaks in the United States, many ghost towns and historic structures, the scenic Arkansas River, numerous commercially developed hot springs, and vibrant artistic communities.

Corral and outbuildings at Hutchinson Homestead Ranch.
Photo courtesy Hutchinson Homestead Ranch.

Tour America's History Itinerary

Monday’s destination:  Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
Friday’s destination:  Clyfford Still Museum

© 2012 Lee Price